Northern folklore is filled with scary stories of monsters, murder and mischief and now a new television series spearheaded by the Inuvialuit Communications Society is making a call out to actors to help bring those and other homegrown creative works stories to life.
Photo Courtesy Inuvialuit Communications Society
Northwest Terror Stories is a horror anthology loosely based on Inuvialuit tradition and oral stories. A casting call for two episodes, "the Healer" and "the Carver's Blade", is now out, calling for a total of five roles between the two episodes. Auditions are open to anyone, but ICS is unable to cover accommodations of transportation to and from Inuvik for the roles.
"The Healer is a story about someone who calls upon an ancient ability she didn’t know she had. The Carvers Blade is a story about an old man and his ability to capture beautiful sights into art," said series producer Dez Loreen., noting the first two stories were fictional works. "There are others in the series based on Inuvialuit lore. Others are told by members of our communities and passed on from generation to generation. It will be a mix of new and old."
Along with Loreen, Jerri Thrasher and Lucy Kuptana are also writing stories for the series, with David Stewart on camera and Tamara Voudrach managing and producing. The show will also draw stories from works such as Taimani, and I Nuligak. Loreen said the first season was written and the team was moving towards pre-production while writing the second.
Describing the series as similar to Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt, Loreen said the show has been a project he's worked on since 2017.
Auditions are open until filled and each story will run between 10 to 15 minutes, running two stories an episode. Loreen added the ICS was negotiating airtime on the Aboriginal People's Television Network.
"Each show will be a half hour long," he said "Introduced by a fictional elder and his granddaughter. We are really excited to work on this and we encourage anyone who wants to act, to apply as we have dozens of stories to tell over the next few years and can’t wait to share with everyone.
"We are going to be all over the Inuvialuit settlement region, going to Paulatuk, Ulukhaktok for other episodes this year. So please stay tuned to our Facebook feed."
Auditions videos can be submitted over email at nwterrorstories@gmail.com, or in person or through a video conference call.